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FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Kamehameha-Hawaii players celebrated their victory over Saint Francis yesterday.

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Warriors take D-II title

Seniorless Kamehameha-Hawaii
defeats Saint Francis 55-49 in
the championship game

They can look very much alike, but there's a big difference: The stall is passive and the spread is aggressive.

Correction Today's 12th annual Mufi Hannemann Girls Basketball Jamboree will be held at Manoa Valley District Park gym and not at Iolani School, as was reported yesterday on B3.

Kamehameha-Hawaii coach Kimo Miller and his Warriors used the four-corners set for the latter last night, and it worked to perfection. The result was the first state championship for the Big Island school with an enrollment of 425 in its third year of existence.

The Warriors re-took the lead in the fourth quarter, then spread the floor, attacked the basket and made the free throws they needed to beat Saint Francis 55-49 in the Division II final of the Hawaiian Airlines Girls Basketball State Championships at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Leilani Galdones scored 15 points and Jamie Mattos added 12 -- including 6-for-6 from the line -- for the seniorless Warriors. Siutiti Takai led the Troubadours with 22 and a game-high 15 rebounds. Kamehameha-Hawaii finished the year 22-5 and Saint Francis 16-7.

"They've been playing together since they were 6," Miller said of Galdones and Mattos. "They know each other's moves."

The fourth quarter contrasted to the roller-coaster ride of the first three, which featured continual fast-breaking by both teams and the low-post dominance of Takai.

That all changed with 5 minutes left and the Warriors leading 46-45. Kamehameha's Lisa Yang wrapped her arms around the ball 45 feet from the basket and Takai tried to wait her out. After about a minute of non-action, the Troubs' Tiyana Fao came out to meet Yang at the corner.

"We didn't do it to stall the game," Miller said. "We did it to attack the basket. We felt we could beat them one-on-one."

That became evident as Amber Spencer hit a pair of free throws and a driving layup, and Sierra Gacayan and Yang each made a free throw. The Troubs responded with two baskets by Kanani Perry, but the Warriors owned the momentum.

With the Saint Francis defenders spread out across the floor, Kamehameha slashed to the basket, drawing fouls when not making layups.

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FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Kamehameha-Hawaii's Kapua Kekuewa, Leilani Galdones and Carissima Naki celebrated after winning the Division II title.

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The Warriors controlled the tempo, and ultimately the scoreboard. Galdones' free throws with 42 seconds remaining and one by Gacayan with 20 ticks left gave the Warriors an insurmountable six-point lead -- and athletic director Bob Wagner's biggest sports thrill since he coached the Hawaii football team to a Holiday Bowl win in 1992.

"Give credit to them. They hit clutch free throws. For them, it was a great strategy," Troubadours coach Alan Tanaka said.

It was an especially brilliant adjustment by Miller considering the Warriors missed all 12 of their 3-point shots (the shot that had been their ticket to the final the day before), but were shooting well from the line.

"We were trying to open up the court for more inside lanes and open shots," Galdones said.

For much of the game, it didn't look as if it would come down to fourth-quarter adjustments.

Kamehameha led by seven late in the first quarter. But the Troubadours got a big boost when Takai hit a buzzer 3-pointer off an inbounds pass, cutting Kamehameha's lead to 20-16 at the end of the first quarter.

When Takai hit a free throw, the Troubs tied it at 26 with 1:10 left in the first half.

But the Warriors came back with Dancyne Kama's layup off a nice pass from Mattos, and Galdones' pull-up, transition 18-footer. Kamehameha led 30-26 at the break.

Saint Francis committed 13 first-quarter turnovers as it struggled with the Warriors' fullcourt pressure and on-ball defense in the halfcourt. The Troubs cut that number to zero in the second period.

After one efficient solving of the press in the third quarter, Maile Kimura hit an open jumper in the key to give Saint Francis a 39-38 lead -- its first since the opening quarter.

Kamehameha regained the advantage early in the fourth quarter on two free throws by Mattos, and Galdones' layup off a backcourt steal. The Warriors led 42-41, and the Troubadours took a timeout. A putback by Takai, Tesia Ahai's free throws and Mattos' layup and Galdones' bucket off a steal set the stage for Miller's divide-and-conquer strategy.

"A lot of things weren't going for us," Miller said. "I just wanted our girls to keep their heads in the game and forget about last night."

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FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Kamehameha-Hawaii's Kamaile Allen grabbed a defensive rebound in front of Saint Francis' Bryanna Batts during yesterday's game.

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DIVISION II

All-tournament team
Selected by media
Most Outstanding Player: Siutiti Takai, Saint Francis

Amber Spencer, Kamehameha Hawaii. Leilani Galdones, Kamehameha Hawaii. Yacine Meyer, Seabury Hall. Jamie Mattos, Kamehameha Hawaii. Kanani Perry, Saint Francis.

Kamehameha-Hawaii 55, Saint Francis 49

Championship game

Warriors (22-5)
	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Spencer	2	5	3	5	18	2	1	7
Galdones	6	18	3	4	25	6	0	15
Kekuewa	2	3	1	2	11	2	0	5
Gacayan	2	4	2	4	20	4	2	6
Enos	0	2	0	0	10	5	0	0
Mattos	3	18	6	6	23	7	0	12
Van De Car	0	1	0	0	4	0	0	0
Kama	2	4	0	0	10	4	0	4
Yang	0	2	1	2	21	3	0	1
Naki	1	3	2	2	6	0	0	4
Allen	0	1	1	4	12	4	0	1
Totals	18	61	19	29	160	37	3	55
Troubadours (16-7)
	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Perry, N.	2	5	1	4	6	6	0	5
Perry, K.	3	12	2	3	22	8	1	8
Tanaka	1	5	2	4	31	1	2	4
Batts	1	4	0	0	26	1	0	2
Ahai	0	1	2	2	6	0	0	2
Kimura	1	4	0	0	11	5	0	2
Dacalio-Spencer	0	3	0	0	4	1	0	0
Fao	0	3	2	2	23	4	0	2
Iwashita	1	3	0	0	1	1	0	2
Takai	8	12	5	9	30	15	0	22
Totals	17	52	14	24	160	42	3	49

Key -- fg: field goals made; fga: field goals attempted; ft: free throws made; fta: free throws attempted; min: minutes played; reb: rebounds; a: assists; tp: total points.

KS-Hawaii	20	10	8	17	--	55
Saint Francis	16	10	15	8	--	49

Halftime -- KS-Hawaii 30, Saint Francis 26
3-point goals -- KS-Hawaii 0-12 (Galdones 0-5, Mattos 0-4, Van De Car 0-1, Yang 0-1, Naki 0-1), Saint Francis 1-7 (Takai 1-1, K.Perry 0-3, Tanaka 0-2, Dacalio-Spencer 0-1). Personal fouls -- KS-Hawaii 18, Saint Francis 17. Fouled out -- Tanaka. Technical fouls -- none.
Steals -- KS-Hawaii 20 (Spencer 5, Gacayan 5, Galdones 3, Mattos 3, Yang 3, Kama), Saint Francis 8 (Batts 4, Tanaka 2, Ahai, Takai). Blocked shots -- KS-Hawaii 0, Saint Francis 1 (Kimura). Turnovers -- KS-Hawaii 15 (Gacayan 4, Galdones 3, Spencer 2, Mattos 2, Enos, Van De Car, Kama, Allen), Saint Francis 26 (K.Perry 8, Tanaka 5, Takai 4, Kimura 2, Ahai 2, Batts 2, N.Perry, Dacalio-Spencer, Fao). Officials -- Hoffacker, Ishikawa, Collazo. A -- N/A.

Seabury Hall 49, Kalani 47

Kalani (19-8)	13	8	12	14	--	47
Seabury Hall (17-4)	13	9	12	15	--	49

KALANI--Chloe Martin 3, Brandi Yamauchi 0, Kerri Chikamori 0, Yasmina Taketa 0, Raynani Camara 15, Kim Cabuyadao 2, Chelsea Kimura 4, Megan Kamehiro 17, Nicole Isemoto 4, Kacie Gushiken 0, Liandra Bonifacio 2, Alisha Bonifacio 0, Chaude Bonifacio 0.
SEABURY HALL--Meryn Macdougall 1, Emma Burns 3, Yacine Meyer 14, Grace Paul 12, Tiana Barbier 5, Talia Anama 0, Chelsea Kikuchi 12, Heather Colvin 0, Korena Burgio 2.
3-point goals -- Kalani 3 (Martin, Camara, Kamehiro), Seabury Hall 5 (Kikuchi 4, Barbier).

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‘Dragon Ball’ good enough
for third place

Honokaa's Keisha Kanekoa led her team to third place in the girls state basketball tournament last night by scoring nine of her game-high 21 points in the fourth quarter as the Dragons defeated Kahuku 59-48 at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Kanekoa grabbed five of her nine rebounds in the fourth quarter.

"We bounced back from a big loss (last night to Punahou) and kept on playing Dragon Ball," Kanekoa said.

Kari Heers' 21 points and Kanekoa's jumper at the end of the third quarter sparked a 10-1 run.

Kahuku's Artevia Wily finished with 11 points and three assists, while Aisha Ale added 10 points and five rebounds.

The two teams traded baskets throughout a first half that had seven ties and nine lead changes. Neither team built more than a four-point advantage.

Kanekoa's assist to Wila Lavea at the end of the first half gave Lavea two of her 13 points and the Dragons a slim 20-19 lead.

Coming out of the locker room, the Dragons picked up the defensive intensity by applying more pressure.

"I asked them to come out and play a little tougher and pick up the tempo so we could take advantage of our speed," Dragons head coach Daphne Honma said.

The Red Raiders also made a defensive switch in the second half from a zone to a man.

"We switched because I asked if we could. We weren't really stopping '21' (Kanekoa)," Kahuku's Camilla Ah-Hoy said.

Honokaa's 5-foot-5 sophomore guard averaged 17 points, eight rebounds and four assists per game while shooting 45 percent from the field and playing all but 1 minute during the state tournament.

"The greatest thing is she doesn't even realize how good she is," Honma said.